[samsontan]

1. Do I have to format it before usage? If YES how?

2. Do I have to partition it first before dumping in my files?

[Jacke]

1. I don't think you have to, but I believe most HDs come formatted as FAT, which isn't that effective. I would recommend HFS+, you can format using Disk Utility found in Applications/Utilities.

2. No.

[mduell]

1. Depends if it comes preformatted or not. You can format it in Disk Utility. Use FAT32 if you want to use the drive with Macs and Windows boxes, or HFS+ if you'll only use it with Macs.

2. Partitioning and formatting are usually done in the same step these days (unless you're installing Linux from scratch or something), so see the answer to the first question.

[peeb]

I have not seen a drive recently that does not come formatted as FAT32. If you are quite sure that you will not want to share it with Win or Linux boxen then format it for HFS+ - it will be faster. If you don't know whether to partition, don't partition.

[samsontan]

I'll be using it crossing platforms with other OS i guess.

It's formatted in FAT 32 format (format: MS-DOS File System FAT 32), so does this means that its preformatted?

[shifuimam]

When you first load Disk Utility, you'll see something like this:



The "Erase" button will allow you to reformat the drive. This will allow you to format the entire drive. Use the "Partition" button to partition the drive:



You can create multiple partitions by selecting a volume scheme. This will create the selected number of partitions and autosize all the partitions to be the same size. You can move the bar with the dot that displays between each partition to resize them. As you can see, my iBook's drive is formatted with two equal-size partitions, both HFS+. Give your logical drives (aka partitions) descriptive names (e.g. iBook and Data, where iBook is the system/OS drive), select the desired format from the drop-down box, and click "Partition" at the bottom right to partition and format the drive.

You can see what format a partition is already in by clicking on it and looking in the bottom left of the window. This partition is formatted in HFS+ (aka Mac OS Extended). FAT32 is called "MS-DOS" in Disk Utility.



FAT32 is the most universal format, as it can be read and written to by Linux, UNIX, OS X, and any version of Windows starting with at least Win95. FAT32 does have its limitations. You cannot store files larger than 4GB, and file names are limited in length. The file size limitation is probably the one you will actually have to deal with - if you have large disk images, zip archives, etc, you'll find that FAT32 won't meet your needs. It's fine for most things, but I would recommend a partition formatted in either NTFS (Windows-compatible format) or HFS+, depending on which OS you use more. If the drive is large enough (say, 160GB), make three partitions - 70GB FAT32, and 45GB each for NTFS and HFS+. That will cover all your bases.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by peeb 

I have not seen a drive recently that does not come formatted as FAT32. If you are quite sure that you will not want to share it with Win or Linux boxen then format it for HFS+ - it will be faster. If you don't know whether to partition, don't partition.

I've seen quite a few drives (internal and pre-built external) that come formatted as NTFS (all retail drives) or unformatted (mostly the OEM drives).

[peeb]

Are you talking about the type of usb external that the op has? If so, is that anew trend, or have they been doing that for a while?

[mduell]

Originally Posted by peeb 

Are you talking about the type of usb external that the op has? If so, is that anew trend, or have they been doing that for a while?

The OP didn't mention what brand of drive he has, so I don't know about it specifically.

Manufacturers have been shipping unformatted (usually OEM) drives for a while; NTFS is a more recent trend.

[samsontan]

Originally Posted by mduell 

The OP didn't mention what brand of drive he has, so I don't know about it specifically.

Manufacturers have been shipping unformatted (usually OEM) drives for a while; NTFS is a more recent trend.

I'm not sure you guys heard of Ovation before. But I tried to click the erase button. And it pended for a while, then I wasn't given a choice which format to use. But under the description, it remaind FAT 32. Then on i just dropped my movies into the drive.. May i know what is your say now? thanks

[mduell]

Yea, you just erased it and left it as FAT32. Repartition and reformat it if you want to use a different format.